Reapit 2006 Annual Report

Record numbers of blue-chip companies using RPS make 2006 a busy year for the market leader in Residential Sales software.

New Clients

In the last year Reapit have installed their software into over 250 UK estate agency offices, including 7 companies in the UK’s largest top 50 agents. With well over 50% of the top 50 now using Reapit’s products and services it is firmly established as the market leader in Estate Agency software in the UK.

Hamptons International, with 60 offices across the UK, is the largest implementation since the software was rolled out to the Bradford and Bingley offices acquired by Countrywide. Bradleys, one of the largest members of Partners in Property, also migrated 45 offices in the South West, citing stability, and the ability to bespoke the software, as the key criteria in making the move.

The year began with the roll out of Webbers, one of the South West’s most prestigious Estate Agents, with 16 offices in Devon and Somerset. All offices share data and Reapit solved the added complexity of the need to have mobile users able to access the database from laptops.

Bidwells, a national specialist in rural management, installed Reapit into 7 regional offices in February. RPS was configured to meet their requirements, including work for the Rural Agency side of the business.

Strutt and Parker also installed the system across their 23 offices near the end of the year. Specifying reliability and fast access for the end user, Reapit managed to tick all the boxes and completed the roll out over a 4 week period in November.

Expansion into the North

Dacre Son and Hartley were the first of a number of major installations that were to take place in the North of England during 2006, with their 21 offices linked in real-time. Reapit also built a mechanism to provide resilience in the event of internet failure, allowing offices to work offline until communications were restored.

MCW, one of Northern Ireland’s most dynamic Estate Agents, had an interesting remit and took advantage of the TAPI telephone integration within the system to embellish their existing call management software.

Michael Poole, one of the North East’s market leaders, rolled out RPS in March, adding to the growing number of Homesale Network members who are choosing Reapit as the software for its front and back office software.

Edward Mellor, one of the most prominent agents in the North of England, made the move in June to RPS for 16 offices, with a lot of time being spent on bespoke sales progression tools within the software.

Since October, two of Vebra's largest clients, Manning Stainton and Hunters, have installed Reapit software into a total of just under 30 offices. Both clients requested a data conversion so that not only all live applicant and property registers were brought across but also all comparable data including offers and notes.

Software News

2006 saw the release of version 1 of RPS.Net, a fully browser based sales system built on Microsoft’s .net platform. Rps.net has been in development for the last two years, and is totally compatible with the Windows desktop software, allowing clients to mix and match according to need. For multi office agencies Reapit now supports real time data access, synchronised data access and browser based access, with additional tools providing vendor login areas.

RPS.net looks and feels similar to the desktop application, so that users can easily switch between systems. This allows a number of new working scenarios, such as enabling managers or negotiators to access data from home or on the road.

The ReapitWeb technology is being used by more and more Reapit clients, including Countrywide who now provide individually branded ReapitWeb sites for their 1,100 offices – including well known brands such as Bairstow Eves. The Mann Countrywide site piloted the use of Google maps in the ReapitWeb search mechanism.

Reapit Company News

The growth of the Reapit client base has been matched in turn with a heavy recruitment program ensuring that service levels are held to the same high standards as ever. From just under 10 staff in 2005, Reapit now employs 35 people dedicated to the service desk, development and training departments within the company.

In addition to the Head Office in Fulham, the support centre in Solihull has doubled in size and has warranted a move to larger premises, providing state of the art facilities to aid responses to user enquiries. Also, to enable a local support centre for all their clients, they are currently looking for another office around the Leeds area to provide for the training requirements of the growing Northern client base.

To help the rapid expansion and growth of the company, Marc Leduc joined the Reapit Management Team in September. His current remit includes directing the Solihull office, facilitating and driving a comprehensive overhaul of the operational practices and processes, and to deliver high-value customer services to enable consistently high levels of support both to existing and new clients.

Marc’s career has spanned the entire spectrum of IT responsibilities, more recently with executive roles for leading blue chip companies such as Group Operations and Technology for the NatWest and as Chief IT Consultant for LloydsTSB. Marc emigrated from Canada 28 years ago and is also a RYA Yachtmaster.

A number of large Agencies have already chosen Reapit and are scheduled for roll outs up until April of this year, and so 2007 promises to be as busy as ever.